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Sunday, June 15, 2008

I do not relish the tax deadline for self-employed Canadians, which comes around on June 15th every year. I am always about 12 months behind on the accounting. So I have to catch up on that. And then there's the actual tax return stuff, including separate self-employment schedules for my medical 'practice' (such as it is), for Chuck's, and for my music teaching. It just about kills me. This year, as usual, I opted to do it in a painful blitz just before the deadline. May feels way too busy for me, what with all the end-of-year musical stuff intersecting with soccer season. So I work like a maniac at data entry and number crunching for hour after hour after hour for about three days straight leading up to June 15th. I sit inside under electric lights while a world like this beckons from beyond my window.

The trees are a million shades of green. The sun is out. It's warm. The rhododendrons have finally bloomed. You can see them in the lower left corner of the photo, red in the foreground and lavender a little further back, partly hidden by the stacked firewood around the window. That's next winter's firewood, which has been seasoning since last fall. We keep in under the eaves to help it dry out, while we take our current wood from the woodshed.

Firewood attracts curious poultry. Look who is peeking in to double-check my capital cost allowances! See the other lady up high, peeking in from about 6 feet up? Please don't poop on our firewood, ladies. Note to self: Remember to check under the eaves for eggs.

Curious poultry attracts curious cats. The outdoors is the hens' territory, and when she's out the cat, who has been mostly an indoor cat since the two years we owned the dog from hell, normally just lets the hens be. But when it looks like they have designs on the interior of the house, the cat does start to get a little irked and territorial. Double-glazing prevents bloodshed.

I really do try to stay focused on the taxes, but with inter-species dramatics going on at my window it's tough.